I was born in Verona, Italy on the 24th of October 1971. I lived the first
5 years of my life in Padova with my mother (a law student), my father
a well affirmed barrister, 17 years her senior, my grandma and a long string of nannies.

At the age of 5 I moved to Bologna with my mother following the separation of my parents.
There, we started living with Giancarlo, my mum's new boyfriend, in a small flat.
During the 10 years that followed, my mum managed to finish her degree, completed
a second one (in fine arts) and started a third (in philosophy, which remains near
completion to this day); she then became an arts critic for a magazine, a fashion
designer and an antique dealer (in this order).

Giancarlo, with his degree in Physics,
worked as a computer programmer in a company he ran with a university friend,
until he decided to take up the antique dealer's career with my mother.
My relationship with him grew deeper to the point that even my dad became very
fond of him.

We changed an uncountable number of houses (I must admit it, always for
the better), and I changed an equally uncountable number of schools.
At the age of 14, when all Italian kids go to 'high school' I chose
the most scientific of the options and went to the 'Liceo Scientifico'
Augusto Righi in Bologna, the most rigorous and traditional school in
town.

For 3 long years I spent my time working under my potential, taught by
teacher who had no trust in my skills (all but the maths teacher, who always
believed in me, even when I did very badly in my tests, thanks
Proffessoressa Serotti!), until at the apex of crisis (in an attempt to escape)
I applied to go to the
United World College of the Adriatic, an international School based exclusively
on scholarships. To the amazement of my class I passed both regional and national
selections at the end of August 1988 (at the age of 16) I went to the place where
I would spend the best (or near best) 2 years of my life.

In 1990 I graduated (I sat the International Baccalaureate in Physics, Philosophy,
Maths, Biology, Italian and English) and left the College. I then started
Astronomy at the University of Bologna, but, once again, was defeated by arrogance
and burocracy. I therefore opted for the anglo-saxon way of knowledge once
and for all and in September 1991 (after 3 months spent as a sailing instructor
in Scotland) I started my degree in Astrophysics at University
College London, London, UK.

I graduated from it in 1994 and in the same year I stated my PhD, under the
supervision of Mike Barlow and Pete Storey. I finished my PhD in 1997 and,
tired of London, I moved to Zuerich with my husband Nic, whom I had a-religiously
married in 1995.

After a brief return to London, a new escape. This time to New York City,
a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful nest of 8 million neurotic people, where I worked
at the American Museum of Natural History,
still meddeling in stellar affairs.

Ten years and 2 kids later, in a very unexpected turn of events, we moved to Sydney, Australia, where I got a position at Macquarie University's Department of Physics and Astronomy, in early 2009. Almost two years later we are settled and happy in this southern paradise.